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Ritvik Guru System in ISKCON

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Ritvik Guru System in ISKCON An Analysis of Ritvik Movement within ISKCON by Radhapada Das Ritviks refer to devotees of an ISKCON sect, which itself is a sect of the Vaisnava religion. They are a dissident group who are dissatisfied with the outcome of the ISKCON religious organization, in particular with the results of its membership loss associated with the scandalous activities of the initiating gurus, religious teachers who initiate followers into the sect and guide their spiritual, and in many cases, material lives. The organization has recruited some thousands of members into the sect since its founding in 1966 by Abhay Caranaravinda Bhaktivedanta Swami. However, a great many have left the sect, many as a result of its organization’s gurus having left themselves, leaving their followers to pick up the pieces after having surrendered their hearts, lives and material possessions to them since the death of Bhaktivedanta Swami. Many of the gurus left the religion in scandal, leaving deep scars of disillusionment to its members. As a result, many of the surviving members have resorted to the religion’s growing sectarian view of ritvik. Ritvik thought is a reaction to what the members have sensed to be a slow deterioration of the religion founded by Bhaktivedanta Swami caused by ISKCON initiating gurus stepping down from their position, commonly known as ‘falling down’. The ritvik perspective is that Bhaktivedanta Swami did not authorize eleven of his senior disciples to take the position of gurus after his death, contrary to a letter that was written and presented to the members of ISKCON after his death. The ritviks claim that Bhaktivedanta Swami’s real intention was to appoint those eleven disciples of his to perform initiation rites to the newcomers who would then become the direct disciples of Bhaktivedanta Swami, and not disciples of the ritvik, the officiating priest performing the initiation ceremony. The original term of the word ‘ritvik’ is found within the Vedas regarding a type of priest involved in sacrificial ceremonies who officiates it and conducts it on behalf of the sponsor, patron or others who are meant to benefit from the results of the sacrifice. Most likely, those sacrifices were outside of the domain of pure devotional service (bhakti), but were rather intended for materialistic acquisitions and prosperity (karma kanda). ISKCON verily attempts to demonstrate its adherence to Vedic practices in its promoting itself to both the Western and Indian world. This is partly due in order to acquire worldwide acceptance and recognition as a genuine religion, as opposed to being labeled a sect or cult, the latter a view seen by many westerners. Public skepticism poses a challenge to ISKCON while in host countries of the western world of the Judeo-Christian society. The concept of total surrender to a human being who acts as guru is quite alien and appears cultish to people of the West. As a religious parallel, this concept was also difficult to swallow for members of the Christian faith who broke off to 1 form the Protestant churches in regards to priest, bishops and popes of the Roman Catholic Church. The term ‘ritvik’ has now become to mean one who believes that ISKCON gurus are wrongfully claiming disciples to be their own and that Bhaktivedanta Swami alone is qualified and authorized to accept disciples. According to this view, the process by which Bhaktivedanta Swami would accept disciples after his death is through an initiation ceremony conducted by a ritvik. This system is predicted by ritviks to last ten thousand years. The ritviks try to present their case by reminding members of ISKCON of the human fallibility of ISKCON gurus: the ones who have fallen away and the ones who still have status, but who live pretentious and extravagant lives as renunciates, or sannyasis. Ritviks rehash scandalous stories again and again about the corruption of the ISKCON gurus, at times with extra added sensationalism. The number of fallen gurus is indeed somewhat staggering, somewhere numbering about 20, if not more, within 27 years of its unique history. The mechanism employed by ritviks is of exposing the scandalous lives of ISKCON gurus within literature and websites, similar to Hollywood gossip magazines. By this means, they hope to contrast a mortal ISKCON guru with that of Bhaktivedanta Swami whom they revere as one who is spotlessly pure, full of knowledge, infallible and perfect in every respect. They believe that an ISKCON devotee is not empowered to become guru and if they try to, tragedy awaits them. The long list of fallen gurus proves their point, like Biblical writing on the wall. The fall down of nine of the original eleven gurus, as well as the tragic death of Tamal Krsna Goswami, perhaps ritviks’ most hated guru, has increased their convictions. Alongside of this notion is rhetorical deification of Bhaktivedanta Swami whose status has become an isolated phenomenon. As symptomatic of a sect, ritvik members believe they are the true followers of Bhaktivedanta Swami. They feel blessed by Bhaktivedanta Swami and persuaded that others are devoid of his grace due to following the ISKCON gurus and the GBC, ISKCON global managers who maintain the presented guru system involving new gurus elected and approved. Consequently, ritviks are in contention with the gurus of ISKCON and their followers. An obvious problem with the ritvik system is how well it will fare hundreds of years into the future when its members are still initiating on behalf of Bhaktivedanta Swami. According to them however, his physical presence is not an issue. According to their belief, he is present in his vani, his instructions, as well as his statue in the temple. Nevertheless, how well it will work with Bhaktivedanta Swami as a mythological icon within the minds of his followers in the hundreds and thousands of years to follow will remain to be seen. Equally problematic is the ISKCON GBC system of guru election. The GBC elects a guru so that members can seek initiation in the religion through them, becoming their disciples. Unfortunately, it is a defective system since many of the ones 2 elected have not passed the test of time. The rational behind this control system is meant as a measure to try to protect its members of the institution from unqualified gurus. The GBC determines who is fit and not fit to initiate. In theory it sounds pragmatic, but it has failed since so many of them have not maintained their roles effectively and in turn have irreversibly damaged the faith of thousands of members over the years. Consequently, ISKCON finds itself in a damn if you do, damn if you don’t situation. Is there any instance within the history of the Gaudiya Vaisnava religion of a ritvik guru system? It is observed that throughout any presentation on the subject matter ritviks fail to provide any documentation or biographical accounts based on authoritive literature to substantiate their claims. What they consider authoritive are the few patched together quotations from Bhaktivedanta Swami on other issues that are not connected to the subject. On a whole, Bhaktivedanta Swami’s statements may be authoritive to ISKCON Vaisnavas, but not to the whole of the Gaudiya Vaisnava Sampradaya, as we will discuss later. Perhaps, that is the reason why they avoid consulting any of the bhakti scriptures written by the acaryas, or look into how other Gaudiya Vaisnavas conduct the guru/disciple issue. The bhakti scriptures are primarily the ancient Srimad Bhagavata, the enormous amount of literature written by the Six Goswamis, Krsnadas Kaviraja Goswami, Narottama Das Thakur, Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakur and Baladeva Vidyabhusana. As demonstrated through biographical accounts of the great Vaisnava saints and the literature they have produced over the last five hundred years, traditional Gaudiya Vaisnavas maintain strictly the system of guru pranali, that is, reverence and worship of the disciplic line of diksa gurus. The guru who initiates a disciple in the tradition bestows upon the disciple sacred and secret mantras, Tulasi neck beads, Deities, tilak of the sampradaya, the maha mantra and a sadhaka name. Along with those sacred items the guru reveals his spiritual lineage (parampara) to the disciple which becomes the eternal family the disciple has joined through initiation. The disciplic lineage is one that can be traced back to an eternal associate of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu as the root of the disciplic succession. The various lines of disciplic lineages are called parivars. Some prominent branches of the Sri Caitanya tree are the Nityananda parivar, Adwaita parivar, Gadadhara parivar and Narottama Das Thakur parivar. Krsnadas Kaviraja Goswami describes in Caitanya Caritamrta the various branches of the Sri Caitanya tree. Narottama Das Thakur writes in Prarthana that the devotee associates who descended along with Lord Gauranga to assist in His transcendental play five hundred years ago are nitya siddha, eternal companions. Kavikarnapur, a great recipient of Lord Gauranga’s mercy, composed a book entitled, ‘A Lamplight into the Associates of Gaura’ which reveals the identities of the associates of Lord Caitanya in their role as eternal companions of Krsna in the eternal Vrndavan pastimes. Krsnadas Kaviraja 3 writes in the Caitanya Caritamrta that the eternal Vaisnava companions of Lord Gauranga assisted Him in the distribution of transcendental love for Krsna. Some of them started guru disciplic and family lineages to further this propagation for the future generations of souls in this present age. Today the Gaudiya Vaisnava tradition is still a vibrant and thriving religious culture with centers in Navadwipa, Jagannatha Puri, Vrndavan, Radha Kunda, around Govardhana Hill and other holy sites throughout Vraja. The conclusions regarding how the desire for bhakti (bhakti lata bija—the seed of devotion) appears within the heart of an ordinary soul of this material world is due to the grace of a Vaisnava, either in this life or past life.
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